Postmodern Perspectives Issues in Contemporary Art

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Exploring the relationship between contemporary art, culture, and society, this book offers non-specialists a guide to the general structure and focus of Postmodern critical discourse, preparing them to understand the origins, theories, and interrelated ideas of Postmodern art and art criticism within a broader social and political context. Organizes material into six groups of essays--each centering around a specific idea/issue and delineating the main philosophical, theoretical, and critical approaches that have shaped criticism in the Postmodern period. Provides an introductory essay before each group explaining the origin, contextual background, and central issue of the topic, followed by a series of articles reprinted from various sources. Presents the ideas and readings chronologically, showing their interrelationships. Discusses issues of minority, quality, cultural dominance, feminism as a model for the marginality argument, and the museum as a site of cultural representation. For art historians.

PREFACE

xi

PART ONE ART AND AESTHETICS: LATE MODERNISM AND THE FORMALIST DEBATE

1

(64)

CLEMENT GREENBERG

1 Modernist Painting

12

(8)

T. J. CLARK

2 Clement Greenberg's Theory of Art

20

(17)

MICHAEL FRIED

3 How Modernism Works: A Response to T. J. Clark

37

(16)

JURGEN HABERMAS

4 Modernity versus Postmodernity

53

(12)

PART TWO ART AND SOCIETY: IDEOLOGICAL CRITICISM

65

(56)

LUCY R. LIPPARD

5 Sex and Death and Shock and Schlock: A Long Review of "The Times Square Show"

77

(10)

BENJAMIN H. D. BUCHLOH

6 Since Realism There Was... (On the Current Conditions of Factographic Art)

87

(13)

HILTON KRAMER

7 Turning Back the Clock: Art and Politics in 1984

100

(8)

DONALD B. KUSPIT

8 Crowding the Picture: Notes on American Activist Art Today

108

(13)

PART THREE COGNITIVE AND COMMUNICATIVE STRUCTURE OF ART

121

(44)

DOUGLAS CRIMP

9 The Photographic Activity of Postmodernism

131

(9)

THOMAS LAWSON

10 Last Exit: Painting

140

(13)

HAL FOSTER

11 Signs Taken for Wonders

153

(12)

PART FOUR FEMINIST CRITICISM

165

(52)

CRAIG OWENS

12 The Discourse of Others: Feminists and Postmodernism

176

(21)

KATE LINKER

13 Eluding Definition

197

(12)

MAUREEN TURIM

14 What Is Sexual Difference?

209

(8)

PART FIVE PSYCHOANALYTICAL CRITICISM AND ART

217

(48)

ELLEN HANDLER SPITZ

15 An Insubstantial Pageant Faded: A Psychoanalytic Epitaph for New York City Subway Car Graffiti